Avatar's Army
by AmberVonSuper
Summary: It's 5 years after the defeat of Kuvira and a lot has changed. Korra has reformed the old White Lotus into a modern fighting force which aids her in keeping balance in the world. Currently they are deployed in an Earth State which is under attack by Red Lotus insurgents. Also follows the creation of the new White Lotus. Rated M for violence. Image by the wonderful KATAN on Tumblr.
1. Chapter 1

The tent was dark and gloomy. Lit up by only a few oil lamps hanging on the metal walls.

It was octagonal in shape. Made out of steel, with a steel floor and roof.

In the middle Korra was hunched over a metal table in her uniform.

Assami was sitting in a metal chair, on one side of the table, and across from her there was a double field bed also in metal. At the foot of the bed was a chest with some of their personal belongings, apart from that there was nothing else in the tent.

She looked impressive in her uniform. Asami had to admit, Bataar jr had done an outstanding job of combining practicality with a design that showed whoever is wearing this is not someone you want to mess with.

It was all covered in desert camouflage. Different shades of sandy beige and yellow, combined with rocky reds, and with small white painted on, rocks sprinkled over it.

She was wearing big military boots, with a steel soles that looked like they could smash a skull. Thinking about it they were probably designed to do just that.

Instead of her normal training pants Korra was wearing large cargo pants. Held up by a dark blue belt, and riddled with pockets for all sorts of things. Maps, patrol schedules, medical equipment all the things a general needed.

Her top was nearly the same, except it was in a desert beige, and on her chest the White Lotus', lotus could be seen peeking out under her vest, denoting her rank as high general. Really the rank was just avatar, but the official name was high general because the next avatar wouldn't become the leader of the White Lotus the moment he or she was born.

Was it gonna be a he or she? The last earth avatar was a woman, and the sex of the avatar alternates, but that avatar lived over 400 years ago. Surely there had been more than 3 avatars in that period.

Asami got herself out of her thoughts, she could ask Korra when she was done meeting the governor.

Korra was now trying to make out the details on a map, on the table. Her face was just a few centimeters above the map, and she was trying to use the flame in her hand to give herself some light. Stubborn as always.

"Korra just put your reading glasses on." Asami said with a smile.

Korra got up and let out a reluctant "okay" and fetched the glasses from her vest as slowly as possible, in some sort of attempt to avoid wearing them for long in front of someone.

The vest was actually the most impressive piece of clothing Korra was wearing.

It did sadly hide her upper body, but on the other hand it made her a lot bigger and scarier.

It was in the same camouflage scheme as the rest of her uniform, held together by a strap just above her waist.

On her chest there were two pockets. In the one on the right Korra kept a compass, her glasses, and a watch, which was almost never set for anything else than Republic City time.

In the other, she had some personal stuff. Korra almost never opened it, but Asami had looked inside it once, when Korra was taking a bath. Back then it was almost empty, with only a few Yuans, but also what at first looked like a piece of paper. Asami's curiosity had gotten the better of her, and she taken and folded it out. What she found was a little picture of her, taken by Korra not long after they had returned from the spirit world all those years ago. She was wearing her normal clothes, and was standing on the balcony of the Sato mansion with a smile on her lips, behind her the construction work going on outside the old city center could be seen. She had silently folded it, and put it back in the pocket. She decided to not speak about it. Korra would only have been embarrassed, but it was really sweet and had warmed Asami's heart at the time, and still did whenever she thought of it.

But that was also the only nice part of the vest. If you looked a little below the pockets four grenades were sitting in straps designed to hold them. Korra really shouldn't be wearing them out of combat, but she always forgot to take them off.

From reading the text on them Asami could make out that that 2 of them were flashbangs, and the other two were smoke grenades.

Then there was Korra's upper left arm. Covered in different colourful ribbons denoting all the forms of bending she had mastered throughout her life.

Yellow for energybending, blue for waterbending, red for firebending, green for earthbending, and a greyish white for airbending.

Each of the ribbons also had some smaller pins on them, denoting all the subelements Korra had mastered. But there were too many of them to describe them all, and they would all rustle, and twinkle in the scarce light whenever Korra moved her arm.

In her now 27 years long life Korra had never stopped trying to learn new bending styles. The moment she had mastered one she would start on the next, spending all the time she had on learning it, and if she wasn't learning something she would spend her time training her skills to perfection. Asami had sometimes overheard the soldiers talking about Korra and it was mostly about how terrifying she was in battle, usually followed by someone saying something along the lines of "I'm just glad she is on our side." Everywhere they went her reputation preceded her, and sometimes fights had ended just because she had shown up.

Asami could spend hours just admiring her girlfriend. But she was ripped out of her thoughts by the angry governor of the state they were in. "What do you mean you wont attack them? They're terrorists they need to be brought down now!" He shouted angrily.

The governor was a short, shorter than Korra, and slightly overweight man, dressed in rich green silk ropes like what is the fashion among the residents of the upper ring in Ba Sing Se. He hadn't done a great job of introducing himself. At first he thought he could just take command of the White Lotus' force stationed here. Then he had demanded to see the commander which to his great surprise had been the avatar. That hadn't stopped him from trying to take control though. He instead tried his best political strategies to get what he wanted. But both Korra and Asami were by now used to all the methods politicians used, and were well equipped to deal with someone like him.

"Not only would it take hours or maybe days before I can organize my whole force to move out when we barely just got here, if we moved out we would leave both the city and the base open to any attacks from the Red Lotus." Korra said sternly and turned to look the governor in the eye intent on staring him down.

"Even if you against all odds are right and the Red Lotus are hiding there then we could still easily be walking right into a trap."

"Not to mention" she added with a slightly softer tone. "Even if I knew their exact location and was ready to move out I wouldn't because I want to negotiate with them. The..." She said before the governor interrupted her with an angry snap.

"What do you mean negotiate? People are dying these people are dangerous! You should go out there and end them!" The governor was starting to get on Korra's nerves but she was keeping it well hidden, only Asami could see it. The slight furrow of her eye brows, a subtle tension of her muscles but she kept it together.

"If you had let me finished I would have explained why." She said forcing the anger back. "Now I'm going to ask you to keep quiet and listen to me."

She took a breath.

"Most of the members of the Red Lotus aren't really anarchists, and they don't really believe in the ideas they're fighting for. Sure they might say they are willing to die for it, but in the end the real reason they joined the Red Lotus is that they are desperate. The poor, the neglected, the starving they all flock to the Red Lotus' banner in hopes that they can bring about change for the good. The Red Lotus knows this and uses it in their propaganda, telling them it's their leaders fault, and blaming society while using them for their own gain."

"Only few in the Red Lotus actually believe in their ideals but those are few and far between. They are also rarely part of these bases and stay on the run to avoid being restricted, sometimes teaming up with other like minded individuals, but never forming larger groups."

Korra took a deep breath, and gave the governor another stern look to keep him quiet before continuing.

"The people at this base are probably gonna be the former, they will have leaders that in reality are just power hungry, and desperate people following them in the hopes of improving their lives. While we may not be able to make them drop their weapons, and become Air Nomads, if we at least know the reason why they feel the need to resort to violence and terror we can maybe fix those issues."

"If we don't we'll just see another uprising again, maybe under the banner of the Red Lotus maybe under another banner. But the peace won't last if we just kill everyone and leave." She said with a little gasp after her long speech.

The governor looked something halfway between surprised and angry. It took him some time but he finally had a reply.

"But you are in my state and surely that means you should do as I sa-" Korra was quick to cut him off. "This isn't your state, YOU are just the elected representative of it for this term, and I am under no obligation to follow your orders. If I wanted to my army could just sit on it's butt all day playing Pai Sho."

"I am here to help protect civilian lives and stabilize the state NOT as your personal army. I do not take orders from anyone and if you don't have anything that can help me in my job then I would ask that you leave now." She continued sternly while looking him in the eye.

Asami saw that Korra had discretely raised a little platform from the floor so she was even taller, and was now towering over the governor.

The governor looked shocked, he opened and closed his mouth like a fish, trying to come up with a good counter argument. After a few seconds he realized that there was nothing he could really do, and his expression changed to one of anger over not getting what he wanted. He quickly turned around on his feet and walked out of the tent with his head held high, in an attempt to retain some dignity.

As he exited through the blue cloth that covered the entrance a warm sandy breeze flew in from outside.

They didn't stay quiet for long after the governor had left. Both of them burst into laughter at the behavior of the governor. It was rare, but when ever you could get a politician really angry it was worth it.

"Did you see that?" Korra asked rhetorically. "He was like a little child that didn't get his seal jerky."

"Well that would imply he didn't want it." Asami responded jokingly. She had never quite learned to appreciate Water Tribe cuisine.

"I still don't get how you don't like that." Korra quickly responded.

"I do at times wish that Raiko was as easy to handle as this guy." Korra said returning to the original topic. "You have gotten better at it ever since you reformed the White Lotus." Asami pointed out. "Yeah I guess having an army behind me only gave me more political power." Korra responded with a grin.

"When it's suddenly only him that is going to need help, he doesn't really have any sway anymore." She continued with a hint of satisfaction in her voice. Korra was quite proud of the new White Lotus and while she wouldn't really say it, that's just something a commander couldn't and shouldn't say too much, it was clear to anyone who listened.

"Well you're not completely independent the White Lotus still relies on donations from the five nations you can't just do anything." Asami pointed out.

"I know and it's not like im planning to invade Republic City or anything." Korra replied.

"But now I at least don't have to rely on Raiko directly. If he pulled the support he would never get reelected." She said, before continuing. "The new White Lotus is loved by everyone, unlike the old one, we're seen and heard. Be it directly intervening somewhere, or on the radio. People know who we are and they love us for it. I mean the polls are showing it, where ever we go people love us, and when we return to the base in Republic City people are cheering, and celebrating in the streets." She said, pride beaming from her.

Asami got up from her seat and walked over to Korra putting her hand on her chin, and turning her face to look into her wonderfully blue eyes. "Well I certainly know someone who loves you." She said softly. "Really who?" Korra asked with a grin on her face.

"You know who." Asami said and kissed Korra on her lips. She felt a warmness spreading out through her body. They got far too little time alone these days so she was happy to use any opportunity.

Eventually Korra had to let go. "I have to go inspect the base. I can't stay in the tent all day." She explained. "But it looks like I will have the rest of the day off. If nothing goes wrong." She continued. "Yeah there's always an 'if'." Asami said a little disappointed. She had hoped they could get a little more time together.

"I promise I will try to make room for some more alone time but you know how it is when we're deployed somewhere." Korra said almost reading Asami's thoughts. "I know sweetie." She said. It was after all part of being the avatar's girlfriend, and she knew it, but she could still never really stop wishing for them to have more alone time.

"Let's go inspect the base so they know the commander hasn't fallen asleep in her tent." She said a little more cheerfully. "Let's" Korra responded as she walked to the exit with Asami just behind her. "Ladies first." She said lifting the blue piece of cloth. "Thank you" Asami responded smiling. That joke had never been good, but it also never got old.

* * *

**Authors note: **First attempt at writing a fanfiction, any criticism is very much appreciated, especially if I have made any grammatical mistakes, since I'm also doing this to improve my English. Also for anyone wondering, no Korra having a picture of Asami in her pocket does not mean she's going to die because she hasn't shown it to anyone.


	2. Chapter 2

Everything had been going so well up until now.

For a whole month after they had returned from the spirit world there had been no problems. The Earth Kingdom had been peaceful, the process of transforming it into a federation had gone smoothly. When they came back the only thing they had to do was help clean up the city and tear down the old downtown. It was hard work but it was at least simple.

Then it just had to happen. Some people just couldn't accept defeat.

It of course didn't help that no one wanted to do anything. She had hoped that the people of the world would finally have learned that it was also their job to keep things in balance, not just her's.

"Uuugh, I can't believe it!" Korra shouted frustrated into the wind, as they drove down a street in Asami's car.

"Why doesn't Reiko want to do anything? I thought he was jumping at the opportunity to attack Kuvira just a few months ago!"

They turned a corner. "But now when an entire state refuses to accept Kuvira's surrender he doesn't want to do anything? Wu even asked for help! And it's not like it's a small uprising, this is at least a few hundred if not thousand soldiers who are all trained and battle hardened."

The car speed down a road. "He could at least spare a few of the metalbender cops and Lin! Lin even agreed that she should go! But Reiko for some reason believes that I can take on all of them on my own. The only way I could do that is by smashing a mountain into them or something, and even if I did that there's no way I could keep the peace myself. The state would hate me, I would have to be on the look out for assassins all the time!"

They stopped at an intersection. For some time the only thing that could be heard was the car's engine churning away.

"What about the White Lotus?" Asami asked. "What do you mean?" Korra said puzzled.

"You could use the White Lotus guards to help you, they fought in the 100 year war right?" Asami explained while keeping an eye on the officer in the middle of the road directing the traffic.

"They did take back Ba Sing Se on their own I suppose. But they had Iroh and Paku and Jeong Jeong and Piando and all those other great benders and sword masters." She said still puzzled.

"And the modern day White Lotus will have you, me and probably Bolin and Mako and maybe even Tenzin." Asami continued.

"But how will I get enough soldiers? The White Lotus only has as many guards as it needs nothing more." She inquired. It did sound crazy but it could work. "Well you could maybe take some people off their regular duties." Asami explained confidence growing in her voice.

Korra knew by now that if Asami was confident in an idea, it was probably a good one. Still this seemed like a strange idea.

"As an example; does the White Lotus still really need to have guards around the clock on Air Temple anymore?" She continued explaining confidently.

"I guess not, but that would only be like 5 or 6, not really enough to take on an army." Korra was considering the idea, but it honestly still seemed a little far-fetched.

"There are maybe other places where there's White Lotus guards, even if they aren't needed. What about the complex on the South Pole where you were trained? Or the old Red Lotus prisons? If there are still guards there, they may not really be needed there anymore." She seemed completely sure that her idea would work now.

"I don't actually know if the White Lotus still has guards there." Maybe the idea could work.

"You should check it out, the White Lotus must keep some sort of log over where they have guards. Maybe there's something on Air Temple Island, that's kind of their head quarters in Republic City right?"

"I guess, that's at least the only place I know of to have White Lotus guards in Republic City." Korra remembered that they had some sort of guard house.

"Also it's the White Lotus' job to serve and protect the Avatar, so in a way you're their commander."

Asami saw the traffic officer signaling that they could go, and started accelerating.

"You're right ." Korra lit up with the realization "I have never really thought of it that way." She had always just thought of the White Lotus as a bunch of old people telling her what to do, she had never entertained the thought that they are technically under her command.

She couldn't help but smirk at the thought of giving orders to the White Lotus masters. There were a few that had made her do way too many basic moves, which would be fun to order around a little. She shouldn't really be thinking that, they had done it with the best intentions after all. But she was allowed to imagine ordering them around, and the thought was quite fun.

"Sometimes an outsiders perspective is all you need." Asami said with a smile, as they speed over the intersection.

* * *

"Hey Tenzin!" Korra said, announcing their presence. Tenzin was standing with a group of airbenders, talking with them about something. But the moment he heard Korra he turned around, and greeted them cheerfully.

"Korra, Asami! It's so nice to see you!" Tenzin said with a big smile. "What brings you here?" He asked. Korra and Asami exchanged a look before Korra took the word.

"It's about the rebelling Earth State." She said in a serious tone. Tenzin's expression quickly got a lot more serious. "Did you get Reiko to pledge support?" He asked, now he wasn't Tenzin the friend and mentor anymore, but Tenzin the world leader.

"No but Asami has an idea about what we could do." She hoped Tenzin would be on board with the idea.

"Well dinner is going to be soon, why don't you and Asami join us? Then we can talk about it after dinner." He said.

"It is best if we keep these matters between as few people as possible before we are ready to act." He added, Tenzin was quite experienced in politics, so listening to him was probably a good idea.

It was quite a beautiful evening, the sun was slowly setting into the sea, and was casting a crimson red light over everything. They walked up the stairs from the dock. All around them airbenders were flying around, a bison took off every now and then, some of the airbenders were practicing while others were preparing for dinner.

Air Temple Island was a very different place now, it wasn't the calm and peaceful temple Korra had arrived at with a very angry Tenzin over 3 years ago. There was still the same general sense of peacefulness and tranquility here, but it was also now a hub connected to the entire world through the Air Temples.

In the few days Korra had managed to spend here before the attack on Republic City she had seen how much it had changed.

She still had her room, which had been left nearly untouched for over 3 years, except for being cleaned every now and then. But there was also now a lot more people, with schedules who would be ordered around by a bell ringing for each meal.

She hadn't had to follow any of that, she had spent most of her days practicing all the bending styles she knew.

She could not let Kuvira beat her again, and the only thing that was on her mind was getting back into shape. But she couldn't practice forever no matter how much she wanted to.

There were times when she was resting, where uncomfortable thoughts would sneak into her mind. She would start to doubt herself, fear what might happen, and what might have happened.

Those were the times where Asami was there for her. Korra had never been allowed to be alone for more than a few seconds Asami would, somehow, always find her. She hadn't thought a lot about what it meant at the time, she was just happy there was someone there so she didn't have to be alone. Someone she could share her thoughts and fears with, while everyone else was too busy with their jobs. The days had been amazing, she felt a safety and comfort she hadn't felt for years.

Then there were the nights, they had been a living hell at times. She had been trapped in horrible nightmares. Her past enemies had returned again to fight her, and hurt her even more. It had been like she was back there, fighting her past battles again, and some times it didn't even end when she woke up.

She her senses betrayed her, and turned her bedroom into a battlefield.

She had been lucky to have Asami in that time. She had been there to comfort her after each nightmare, and it had made it a bit better.

That was how her short time at Air Temple Island had been. In the day she would train to face her real enemies, and in the night she would battle the old ones. But each time Asami would be there to comfort here. Never leaving her alone with her nightmares and fears. Slowly it got better, and she stopped fearing the nights. The nightmares didn't stop until she visited Zaheer, but by the time she did they were no where near as real, or frightening as before.

A gentle squeeze of her hand brought her back to the present. She looked to her side and found Asami smiling softly at her. She had drifted off in her memories again. Something she had started to do far too much. While she was thinking her legs had carried her through most of Air Temple Island, and they were now in the court in front of Tenzin and his family's home.

"Korra!" The airbender children exclaimed in unison, as they landed in front of her.

"And Asami!" they said after landing.

"Do you want to go air scooter racing?" An excited Meelo asked. "Im sorry but I think I'm a little too tired, demolition work is hard, and right now I just really need something to eat." She answered. It wasn't a lie, she had been spending most of her time demolishing buildings in the city center so they wouldn't be a danger later on when they would start to crumble.

"What about after dinner? Then we can race!" Ikki asked hopeful. It was going to be hard telling them no.

Korra always loved playing with the airbender kids. Maybe because she had never had any siblings herself, or maybe because they were seemingly always happy, and never worried about hundreds of different things like her.

Luckily for Korra, Asami took the word. "Me and Korra are here because of Avatar related stuff. After dinner we are going to talk with your dad about something important." She explained to the kids in maybe a slightly condescending voice. Asami had never really been great with kids, but she had improved.

Jinora having been quiet for the whole conversation finally said something. "It's about the uprising isn't it?" She had always been one who knew everything that was happening in the world. Korra wondered if she in secret had started subscribing to multiple newspapers.

"Yes it is. But Asami has an idea that might work." Korra answered. Now they were not talking about playing anymore, but politics. It's crazy what the small age gap between the three siblings could mean sometimes. "What is the idea?" Jinora asked. "Well I can't really tell you because uhhhm..." Korra tried to come up with some good reason for not telling her. "It's an Avatar secret." Asami said sweeping in to save Korra. "Me and Korra can't tell anything for a number of reasons." Asami continued. She may not know how to talk to kids, but the confidence in her voice showed Korra that she was right at home talking about politics. That's the one good thing that comes out of being raised by an Equalist, you could guess.

"Maybe we should just go have dinner?" Tenzin asked knowing that Jinora probably wouldn't stop asking until she knew everything. "Yes let's. As I said I'm starving." Korra responded happily. She could smell the steam buns from here, and it was making her stomach growl.

* * *

Tenzin's study was the same as always, the walls were decorated in intricate patterns, and there wasn't really any furniture apart from the shrine and some pillows to sit on.

"So you want to use the White Lotus as an army?" Tenzin inquired. He didn't seem opposed to the idea, but a little convincing might be needed.

"Well sort of." Korra was thinking of how to put it. "They won't really be an army because they aren't. But they will assist me in taking down the insurgents and keeping the peace." She explained hopefully Tenzin would get behind it. They kind of needed him as he was one of the people the White Lotus took orders from.

It was weird because as Asami had said, she was technically the leader of the White Lotus. Yet they seemed to operate in no sort of relation to what she did, but instead just took orders from a bunch of old people. There had to be some sort of order to it she thought. She had gotten a really good look into how most organizations operated in the last month. Everything from the very strict Earth Empire army to the slightly more lax UR Navy, and of course also the RCPD. The White Lotus probably had some sort of system like this. She could ask Tenzin about it when they were done talking.

"They will be peacekeepers, Korra, Mako, Bolin, me, and maybe you, could probably take down the insurgents on our own. But we can't patrol the streets, enforce the law and keep the peace after wards." Asami once again had the right words. Korra was beginning to suspect that she might have had this idea for longer than she knew.

After a period of thinking Tenzin finally said "I think I'm behind the idea. I will contact some of the other White Lotus leaders about this." Korra let out a sigh. If Tenzin was behind the idea the rest should agree.

She did however have one question, "Tenzin, could you tell me how the White Lotus actually works? Because I have never been told about any sort of system in how it works." She was intrigued now. There was so much she didn't know about the White Lotus, even though she had always been very close to it.

"Well it's actually very simple. There are the White Lotus guards who just guard. Then above them are the White Lotus masters they were the people who trained you, and they also take care of the day-to-day running of the White Lotus. They don't have to follow orders from anyone but in general they listen to what me and a group of people, which includes your father and Katara, say." He explained as if it was a non-issue. Korra on the other hand was astounded.

This was abysmal. There's barely any structure to the White Lotus. How had this survived for so long into the modern world? Compared to the UR Navy the White Lotus was anarchistic. There was no way this could continue. If this is how the White Lotus operated, with barely any sort of structure, then that could easily explain why they had failed so many times. She would be the one to change it. Just like she had changed the world, the White Lotus would change with it.


End file.
